Quick-opening box.



G. Z. SUTTON.

QUICK OPENING BOX. APPLICATION FILED MAYI. 191s.

Patented Aug. 31, 1915. 55' 4 I- GEORGE Z. SUTTON, OF. PHIII ADEL'PHIA,PENNSYLVANTA,

SMITH COMPANY, 91 SUMMERDALE, TION OF PENNSYLVANIA. v

ASSIGNOR TO STOKES &

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORA- ouicmor zmne :Box.

To all whomz't may concern;

Be. it known that I, GEORGE Z. SUTTON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Philadelphia, in the State of vPennsylvania, have inventednew and useful Improvements in Quick-Opening Boxes, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to boxes or containers.

Many articles are now sold in sealed wrapped packages which comprise aWrapper applied in such a way that the packages are substantiallyairtight. This practice has been largely adopted in packing candies andother articles which are adapted to be affected by contact with theatmosphere. "While such boxes are not absolutely air tight, they dopreserve candies fresh for a longer period than unsealed packages. Suchpackages are also desirable as containers for salted almonds or nuts,the salt of which may be affected by moisture in the atmosphere. Suchsealed wrapped packages are unfortunately not easily opened, be-.

cause the Wrappers usually adhere to the package at all points and forthat reason conceal the vulnerable point at which the opening can bestarted; and a knife or similar instrument is usually required to effectthe opening of the box.

A principal object of the invention is to produce a box which iscompletely sealed,

but at the same time having a construction particularly adapting it tobe readily broken open, and without necessitating the use of anyinstrument such as a knife.

Further objects of'the invention will appear more fully hereinafter.

The invention consists in the combination of parts and detailshereinafter described all of which contribute to produce an efiicientand easily opened box.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will be described in theaccompanying specification, while the broad scope of the inven tion isset forth in the appended claims.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a plan of a blank of any desired formindicating the manner in which the blank may be constructed so as toadapt it to the purposes of my invention. Fig. 2 is a perspective of abox or container embodying my invention and showing the box sealed aswhen sold. a Fig. 3 is a perspective showing the box Specification ofLetters Patent. Application filed May 1, 1915. Serial No. 25,286.

- the cardboard. Fig. 5

Patented Aug. 31,1915.

illustrated in Fig. 2, 1.... illustrating the same as broken openthrough the agency of my improvements. Fig. 4 is a vertical sectionthrough the box shown in Figs. 2 and 3,-

the middle portion of the view being broken away. In this view only thecardboard is shown in cross section, while the wrapper is indicatedsimply by a parallel outline near 1s a perspective illustrating the1I1V6I1tl0l1 applied to another form of box or container, portions ofthe wrapper being broken away. Fig. 6 is a vertical section takenthrough a box of the form illustrated in Fig. 5, the middle por tion ofthe view being broken away. This View is similar to Fig. 4 and in thisview also the wrapper is indicated not in a cross section, but simply bya line running parallel with the cardboard. Fig. 7 is a plan of theblank indicating the form of blank from which the shell of the box shownin Fig. 6 may be conveniently produced, and indicating the manner inwhich the blank i constructed in order to embody my invention in thecompleted box.

Referring more particularly to the parts,

10 re and w ich comprises a container 11 formed of a plurality of rigidwalls of cardboard or similar material (see Fig. 4) which is completelyenveloped in a sealed wrapper 12. In order to adapt the box to bequickly opened I provide one of the rigid walls thereofpreferably afront main wall 13 of the cardboard container with a weakened point orline 14 and this weakened line is preferably located near an edge of thebox. The line 14 is preferably a cut through the esents the boxillustrated in Fig. 2,

wall and disposed in a curve, so that it,

forms the outline for a frangible tongue 15 which is left integral withthe wall 13, the root 16 of the tongue being disposed near the adjacentedge 17 of the box. The presence of this tongue is indicated on theexterior of the box preferably by meansof a dotted line 18 printed onthe face of the wrapper. But the tongue is left in the plane of the wallso that even at the weakened point the box has a complete rectangularrigid wall. That is, this wall presents a continuous rectangular edgeextending all around the wall.

By pressing on the exterior of the box over the tongue 15, the wrapperat the cut 14 will readily be broken through'so as to force the end ofthe tongue slightly inwardly into the interior of the box. This enablesthe person opening the box to exert pr ssure on the adjacent Wall 19from the insi e, and a slight pressure'from the inside will break thiswall outwardly. 'When' this occurs the wrapper 12 will break away atsome point such as on a line 20 at the end of the box (see Fig. 3

The weakened point or line 14 is most conveniently formed inthe box byforming it in the blank from which the box is to be formed (see Fig. 1).Of course the blank may be of any shape andfolded in any desired mannerto produce the box. It is simply necessary to-provide the blank with oneonmore of the weakened lines or cut 14 at some point which will lie nearan edge of the completed box. For example: The blank shown in Fig. 1 isof a well known form to produce a common form of box having end wallsformed of flaps which open outwardly. In a blank of this form, the blankpresents two substantially rectangular body portions 21 and 22, whichare to form the two opposite main walls of the box, and the blankincludes the narrow wings 23which fold up to produce the narrow sidewalls of the box. The body portion 21 in the blank has integral sidewings 24 with margin flaps 25. In the complete box the body portion 22of the blank forms the forward wall 13, while the body portion 21 formsthe rear wall 6.

The wings 24 form the ends 19 and 19 of the box respectively$which endscarry the integral flaps 25. In a box .of this type the breaking in ofthe tongue gives the person opening the box a grip on the angle formedby the flap 25 and its adjacent end wall and by pressing outwardly, theend wall 19 can be made to break its way through the end of the wrapper,in the manner indicated at the line 20.

The box illustrated in Fig. 3 is shown simply by way of example, and theinvention is applicable to other forms of boxes.

As another example, a box is illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 which is ofthe ordinary telescoping shell type. .In this type of box, the box orcontainer 27 is formed of two telescoping shells 28 and 29. The outershell 28 is simply an ordinary box shell, while the other box shell 29is preferably specially constructed to adapt it to my purpose. This ispreferably done, as in the other instance, by forming a weakened pointor weakened line in the blank, and the blank of this box may have theform illustrated in Fig. 7 in which the bodyportion 30 of the blank isof substantially rectangular form and has side integral wings 31, andintegral end wings 32 adapted. to. fold up to give thebox its form.

- The ends of the body portion 30 of the blank near the folding lines-33 of the blank are preferably provided with weakened lines or cuts 34which are preferably curved and i tongue on therexterior of the box witha line such as the line 18. This box is opened in substantially the sameway as the other box,

except that it may require slightly more force. When the tongue 35 isforced inwardly, the person opening the box gets a grip on the inneredge of the end of the box and then pulls theend wall outwardly and, indoing so, he breaks out the outer layer 38 which is the end wall of theoutside shell 28 and he also breaks outwardly the layer 39 which is theend wall of the shell 29. I It is evident that the application of myinvention to boxes does not substantially increase their cost, becausethe weakened point may be readily formed in the blank when the blank iscut; that is, the weakened points may be produced by the same operationwhich cuts the blank. At the same time, although the weakened points arepreferably lines out completely through the COIN/{1111613, they do notinterfere with the perfect sealing of the container by means of the.wrapper which completely covers the cut; if desired, the wrapper may asusual constitute an air tight wrapper or seal for the container. Theflap 25 is of slightly less width than the flap 24 so that projectingshoulders or off-sets 25" are formed which engage the side walls of thebox and prevent the heads or ends walls of the boxfrom being pushed intothe interior when the box is being covered. The flaps 25 are alsosufficiently narrow to permit them to pass readily into the open ends ofthe box.

I do not limit myself to the use of all the features of my invention incombination, as I may use any of the features separately.

It is understood that the embodiment of the invention described above,is only one of the many forms or embodiments the inventionmay take, andI do not wish to be limited in the practice of the invention nor in myclaims to the particular embodiment set forth.

What I claim is:

1. A box having a plurality of rigid walls, one of said walls having areadily frangible tongue portion in the plane thereof and integraltherewith and a wrapper completely enveloping said box and continuouslycovering said tongue portion and the wall carrying the same, saidwrapper having means on the exterior thereof for indicating the locationof said tongue portion and readily frangible by pressure exertedinwardly on the' exterior or the wrapper at said tongue In this case, asin the other case, I prefer to indicate the position of the displace thesame from edge of an adjacent wall of the box wherebysaid tongue portionmay be broken inwardly with ones finger and pressure applied to of thesaid adjacent wall to outwardly.

2. A box having a plurality of rigid walls,

one of said Walls having a scored line formed therem near an edge ofsaid box, said scored line "outlining an integral tongue in the plane of'the box wall, "said tongue readily frangible by external pressure tothe wall in, an in ward direction, and a enveloping said box, coveringsaid scored line but having means for indicating the wrapper completelylocation of said scored line, said wrapper formed of an easilybroken-material where by the cover and said tongue may be brokeninwardly by pressure exerted on the exterior of the box and thereby giveaccess to the inner side of an adjacent wall of the box to enable saidadjacent wall to be forced outwardly by a pressure on its inner side.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

4 ono. Tz. SUTTON. Witnesses:

CARL E. SonAnrrnR,

Suns E. CHILD.

